The Gospel reading on Sunday had so many lessons for all of us. The one that struck me the most is the plight of the blind man. When Jesus restored his eyesight, the first thing he saw was the face of Jesus. What a beautiful sight that must have been. It certainly made me think about my afterlife. I hope that when I leave this life and wake up in the next, the first face I see is that of Jesus. It also made me realize that I must work at getting to see His face everyday. Little things matter just as much as big things. No, I am not murdering anyone but is my tongue causing harm to someone? Do I conduct my life so that others know I am a disciple of Jesus? The lesson of the Gospel that also stuck with me is that we care too much about what others think of us. As soon as we sense that someone is not going to like us, we begin to structure our lives to maintain that relationship. Why don't we do that with God? That is the ultimate decision about anything we do. What does God think? Am I representing God in all that I do? I am not saying that we shouldn't have strong relationships. What I am offering is that we must not be constantly concerned about what others think of us. By focusing on God and the Gospel message that Jesus shared and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in and through us, everything else will fall into place. The people that God wants us to be around will be drawn to us. And in the end, that will allow us to have our sight restored and see the face of Jesus. I also wanted to recommend a website to you that I learned about listening to Catholic radio this morning. Take a look at prolifecatholic.com and see how you can make economic decisions that further the mission of the Church that Jesus built.

The feast of the Annunciation of the Lord celebrates the angel Gabriel's appearance to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:26-38), his announcement that the Blessed Virgin had been chosen to be the Mother of Our Lord, and Mary's willing acceptance of God's holy plan. Originally a feast of our Lord, but now celebrated as a Marian feast, the feast of the Annunciation dates back at least to the fifth century, and the date of the feast, which is determined by the date of Christmas, was set at March 25 by the seventh century. The Annunciation, as much as or even more so than Christmas, represents Christ's Incarnation. When Mary signaled to Gabriel her acceptance of God's Will, Christ was conceived in her womb through the power of the Holy Spirit. While most of the Fathers of the Church say that Mary's fiat was essential to God's plan of salvation, God foresaw Mary's acceptance of His Will from all eternity. My plan to honor Mary's commitment and celebrate this day is to model her behavior. Her willingness, allowed Jesus's ultimate sacrifice and opened the option of eternal life for all Christians. Having recently celebrated the feast day for St. Joseph, it is fitting that we complete the circle during Lent and honor Mary's commitment. Both Mary and Joseph provide us with solid models of Christian piety and obedience. I hope that your day is filled with wonder and excitement just as Mary must have felt over two thousand years ago when first visited by the angel Gabriel.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you. As I have gone through the day, I have been greeting people with this salutation and some of them are giving me the strangest looks. When I offer to tell them a little about who St. Patrick was and what he accomplished, they are acting like he is a fantasy. Many people have said that they assumed he was a made up saint and that he looked like a leprechaun! I can't make this stuff up. It is really a shame that the legend of a great man, who was recognized for his ministry by being canonized, has become so diminished by the "green beer revelry." A few days ago I saw an article that indicated that people of Irish descent in the U.S. were very disturbed by the images used to depict them and their ancestors. I can sympathize with them because of my French and Acadian ancestry. The depiction of "Cajuns" has become so simplistic. The use of the term Cajun for any food that is spicy is amusing. The history of the Acadian Diaspora is actually quiet interesting and very related to their Catholic identity. So I pray that more people are drawn to the real St. Patrick. The one who crafted the Gospel message to fit his audience. The man who worked tirelessly to bring people to the grace that God offers. The St. Patrick that I have come to love was a man full of Jesus. He longed to bring to Ireland the salvation message and to have people join the Catholic Church. He deserves better than being reduced to a caricature. So I wish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day and I call upon him to pray with and for us and we continue his mission of bringing the Gospel message to all of God's people.

Although recent polls on Catholics supporting same-sex “marriage” are viewed as less disheartening than they appear, the results sparked a call for education on the beauty and truth of Church teaching. Tim Roder, associate director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, said that Catholic belief in marriage is about “remaining faithful to Jesus and his teaching.” He cited Christ's words about married couples in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10: “from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”“We cannot be driven by polls,” Roder told EWTN News March 7.Surveys indicating some Catholics' rejection of Catholic teaching show “there is still much work to be done, particularly in educating the faithful on the beauty of marriage as the unique union of one man and one woman.” The U.S. Spanish-language television network Univision's recent global poll of Catholics about their views indicated that about 54 percent of U.S. Catholic respondents support “gay marriage.” Among this subset, fifty-nine percent of respondents agreed that the Church should not perform “gay marriages,” but 35 percent said the Church should. Among the 12 countries polled, only Spanish Catholics showed more support than Americans for these ceremonies in Catholic churches.Roeder said it was a positive sign that even among supporters of same-sex “marriage,” most rejected such unions being performed in Catholic churches.Roder noted, though, that only one-third of Catholics who attended Mass weekly or more supported Church recognition of same-sex “marriages.”He said that the survey results help show that changing the legal definition of marriage “can indeed have a cultural impact swaying more to support it. The law teaches for good and ill,” Roder said. “When it teaches something false many just accept it and this increases the profound cultural crisis in marriage and family that Pope Francis spoke about in 'Evangelii Gaudium.'”Roder said marriage is “a question of definition, not expanding rights.” It is “impossible” for the Church to perform same-sex weddings.“The body matters. Sexual difference between man and woman is essential to marriage,” he said. “The Church cannot affirm something that is not true or real. Only a man and a woman can enter a conjugal union open to the possibility of children.”

What did you give up for Lent? Did you eat meat today? Why did you have ashes on your forehead on Wednesday? Are you over your Mardi Gras hangover yet? These are the questions swirling around those of us who are Catholic in South Louisiana. It is certainly comforting to live in an area that has a large number of Catholics but it also provides us with an opportunity. We can take the message of the Gospel from the Church that Jesus built on the foundation of Peter and begin to change the perceptions of what it truly means to be a Catholic in the 21st century. Heeding the call of Pope Francis to not be a "one trick pony" and only rail against abortion, we should also indicate our support for all things Catholic. That includes social justice especially when it concerns the poor. That means the Catholic education that has been provided for so long in many places that had nothing before and would have inadequate schooling without the Church's support. That means we need to share the message of eating Christ's body and drinking Christ's blood as is so visually displayed in the current movie Son of God. This list could go on and on. Lent is a time for penance and preparation of course. But it is also an icebreaker of sorts. Explaining to others why you are abstaining from eating meat on Friday can open the Church to them. Living Jesus Christ's call to model his behavior is one of the best ways to spend your Lenten journey. Giving up something should cause a life-long change in you. Creating a good habit where once there was bad is one of the reasons to walk this Lenten journey. The things that set us apart as a faith-filled community of believers should be what we use to bring others to the Gospel. If you have not ever found Lent to be a useful time for you, begin today to take a Lenten journey that transforms your life. Jesus took nails for you and me. What will you do for Him?